Mary Oliver is one of my favorite poets. Yes, I have many, many favorite poets. As the humidity and heat sets in to the day, it seems appropriate to bring Mary forward here.
This is one of my favorite one liner from her poem Summer Day:
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
Recently someone* asked me how I would answer that question. Now I ask you. What will you do with your one wild and precious life?
This Wild and Precious Life
Make messes and beauty
Feel 100 percent human
Begin again and again
End as many times or more
Nestle in the belly of trees to listen for the water pouring down the rocks
Catch the acorns falling from the trees
Catch the acorns falling from the trees
Collect feathers
Pan the bay for sharks who lived millions of years ago
Hold those teeth in your hands
and swim across the oceans older than we could ever dream to be
Pan the bay for sharks who lived millions of years ago
Hold those teeth in your hands
and swim across the oceans older than we could ever dream to be
Marvel at the heavy-headed sunflower until the rain breaks it stalk
Morn the loss of its beauty and
Leave the seeds for the ants and the worms
and watch how many seedlings appear in its place
Celebrate the bees resting in the dew under the sunflower's umbrella
Grow back into the babe
who knew no difference between
breath, heart,
love, & death
*Thanks, Joe, for prompting me to contemplate what I am doing with this life.
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